Implementing A Social Media Marketing Strategy For Your Small Business

Starting out as a small business is always very daunting even if you have the most thorough and planned out strategy for how you want to go about achieving your business objectives. One of the main things you have to take into consideration is your marketing strategy. It is essential you have a well mapped out marketing strategy at the start of your business which carries you as you go along and grow. As a new and small business, one of the best marketing strategies to grow your business is a social media marketing strategy.

Social media is the best tool to connect and form strong relationships with your target market and grow your audience. With social media, you’re able to converse with consumers and get direct feedback on the products and services you offer which is great for a small business that may not have all the funds or resources to engage in traditional marketing and thorough market research methods.

So here’s a list of six tips that will help you achieve your marketing goals with social media as a small business.

1.

Develop A Clear and Focused Plan

Achieving your goals in general always requires you to have a precise and focused plan. And this is no different as a small business owner. You need to ensure you have a clear plan that will inform on how your social media marketing strategy will be implemented and every single step you need to take to achieve your marketing goals. This helps you to visualise results much better and also prepare for any risks or unforeseen developments that may occur. This also includes creating weekly and monthly social media calendars which will help you map out and schedule content you wish to put out on social media.

2.

Set Achievable Goals

It is very easy to get carried away with your goals and objectives. Naturally, you might want to aim high because you want your small business to grow and be as profitable as possible but you need to be realistic with your goals. As a small business starting out, trying to gain let’s say, 500 new followers a week with 50% of that leading to conversions will not be feasible in many cases because it takes time to build an audience and a well known brand on social media. So ensure, you set achievable goals, which you can adjust as your business grows.

3.

Find Your Target Audience

Your audience are the most important aspect of your social media marketing strategy. They essentially determine how much revenue your business will make and how well you achieve not only your marketing goals but your business goals in general. So, it is very important to do your research and carefully determine who your target audience is, that is the groups of people whose needs and wants your products and services best satisfy.

4.

Choose The Best Platforms To Use

Once you’ve determined who your target audience are, you can then decided what social media platforms are best for your business. You need to figure out the platforms where your audience are mostly active and present. In addition to this, you need to consider your business type and brand voice when choosing a platform. Is your brand image fun and carefree and directed to a young crowd or more professional and authoritative intended to serve top level executives? This will determine whether you use instagram or linkedin, for example. You must also ensure you’re able to consistently engage with your audience on whatever platforms you decide to use.

5.

Build Your Brand Image

As a new business starting out, one of the major things you need to do is build your brand image. This basically means you need to build a perception of your brand; how you want your target market and consumers to view and think of your brand. This is very important as it will affect how much of an audience you’re able to reach and in turn, how many consumers you garner. Besides having good quality products or services, a strong and influential brand voice will make people better relate to your brand and in turn, want to transact with your business.

6.

Ensure Your Content Is Engaging

You can have the perfect strategy or plan, access to your target audience and so on, but if the content you post on your social media platforms is not engaging, entertaining or interesting to your audience then your social media marketing efforts will be all for nothing. You need to be able to tell compelling stories about your brand that that create positive emotions and thoughts in the minds of your audience and makes them feel a connection to your brand and a desire to engage with your business. Make use of visuals and videos as much as you can, instead of just text.

Always ensure your social media marketing efforts are contributing to your business goals every step of the way. And there’s no strict rule, you can always switch up your strategies if they don’t serve you any longer or you need to adapt to changes in consumer tastes or technology.